phobias and the behaviourist approach

• A phobia is mental disorder that is a persistent fear of a specific stimulus which is out of proportion to any real danger presented.
• An emotional characteristic of phobias is anxiety. This is an unpleasant state of high arousal, triggered by the phobic stimulus.
• An emotional characteristic of phobias is unreasonable emotional responses. This is where the fear is disproportionate to the danger.
• A cognitive characteristic of phobias is irrational beliefs about the phobic stimuli. Sufferers are very resistant to rational arguments.
• A cognitive characteristic of phobias is selective attention. Sufferers will find it difficult to focus their attention away from the phobic stimulus and this can interfere with everyday life
• A behavioural characteristic of phobias is avoidance. Sufferers will go out their way to avoid the phobic stimulus.
• A behavioural characteristic of phobias is panic. Sufferers will panic in response to phobic stimuli in behaviours such as crying, screaming, running away or freezing.
• A specific phobia is a phobia of a single stimulus, such as an object or animal.
• A social phobia is a phobia of being in social situations
• Agoraphobia is a phobia of being in situations where it would be hard to escape.
• The behaviourist approach believes phobias are acquired through classical conditioning. Phobias are learned through association and developed when a neutral stimulus is encountered alongside an unpleasant unconditioned stimulus.
• Behaviourists believe phobias develop when a person forms an association between a neutral and unconditioned stimulus. The neutral stimulus becomes a conditioned stimulus and the person develops a conditioned response to the stimulus.
• Behaviourists believe phobias are maintained through operant conditioning as avoidance of the feared stimulus is negatively reinforced.
• The two-process model suggests phobias are acquired through classical conditioning and maintained through operant conditioning.
• Supporting evidence. Watson and Rayner 1920 conducted the Little Albert case study and repeatedly presented a rat with a loud noise. Through repetition, Little Albert learned to associate the rat with the noise, making the rat a conditioned stimulus and fear a conditioned response. This is positive as it supports the behaviourist explanation of acquiring phobias through classical conditioning and the two-process model.
• Supporting evidence. Barlow and Durand 1995 interviewed participants who had a phobia of driving cars and found participants who experienced a traumatic event while driving had not driven since, negatively reinforcing this behaviour. This is positive as evidence was found for the role operant conditioning has in maintaining phobias as avoidance reinforced behaviours.
• Reductionist. Behaviourists reduce phobias down to specific variables. For example, many people develop a phobia despite never having a traumatic experience with the phobic stimuli. This is problematic as it suggests there may be other factors involved in the acquisition of phobias, such as genetic inheritance and the behaviourist approach oversimplifies complex behaviours.
• A behaviourist treatment for phobias is flooding. This is where a patient is exposed to their phobia, and remains with it until their anxiety has worn off.
• Flooding works because it prevents the patient from avoiding the feared stimulus
• During flooding, when the patient is confronted with the phobic stimulus, the association between the conditioned stimulus and unconditioned stimulus is broken because the patient sees that the conditioned stimulus doesn't lead to the unconditioned stimulus
• During flooding, the conditioned relationship between the conditioned stimulus and the conditioned response is extinguished
• Supporting evidence for flooding. Kaplan and Tolin 2011 conducted a longitudinal study and investigated the effectiveness of flooding to treat specific phobias. Kaplan and Tolin found that 65% of patients showed no symptoms of a specific phobia 4 years later after one flooding session. This is positive as it shows that flooding is effective at treating many phobias.
• Ethical issues. Flooding can create distress for patients and could be criticised for a lack of protection from harm by asking patients to directly confront the most extreme aspect of their anxiety. This is problematic as the treatment may go against the BPS ethical code of conduct.
• Flooding is not an effective treatment for all phobias. Complex phobias, such as social phobias, cannot effectively be treated with flooding as cognitive aspects are involved. Also, flooding can strengthen the phobia, rather than extinguish it. This is problematic because it limits the usefulness of flooding as a treatment.
• A behaviourist treatment for phobias is systematic desensitisation. This is where the patient creates a fear hierarchy, where they list related stimuli, from least to most feared. The patient will manage their anxiety when confronted with the feared stimulus, by using taught relaxation techniques. The patient will be exposed to the feared stimulus gradually in stages, ensuring that they stay relaxed at each stage.
• Like flooding, systematic desensitisation confronts a person with the feared stimulus, preventing avoidance behaviour. However, unlike flooding, systematic desensitisation builds up in stages, from the least to most feared stimulus.
• Research support for systematic desensitisation. Ost 1989 investigated the effectiveness of systematic desensitisation. Ost found that 90% of patients treated with systematic desensitisation had a complete recovery 4 years after treatment. This is positive as it is effective at treating specific phobias, even a long time after treatment.
• Systematic desensitisation is more ethical than flooding. Systematic desensitisation provides gradual exposure to the feared stimuli, causing less distress, and therefore is considered to be more ethical than flooding. This is positive as it does not cause the same degree of trauma that flooding might.
• Systematic desensitisation is not an effective treatment for all phobias. Social phobias and agoraphobias involve mental processes. This is a limitation as the behaviourist approach is less effective at treating phobias where cognitive processes are involved, limiting its usefulness as a treatment.